Mary Swander, Iowa’s Poet Laureate since 2008, will visit Carnegie-Stout Public Library on Wednesday, April 17, at 7:00 PM in Aigler Auditorium. She will talk about being a poet, read from her poetry and other writings, and play the banjo. Mary Swander is renowned for her varied writing of non-fiction, poetry, drama, and journalism. She is the author of The Girls on the Roof; How I Got my Dog; Out of This World—A Journey of Healing; The Desert Pilgrim—En Route to Mysticism and Miracles; and Farmscape—The Changing Rural Environment. Her work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, USA Today, and on NPR radio. Ms. Swander received her M.F.A from the Iowa Writers Workshop, and teaches English at Iowa State University, where she is also a Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She lives in an old Amish schoolhouse, raises geese, goats, and an organic garden, and plays the banjo.